Toilet flush tank valve sander



Feb. 6, 1962 T. MATAYKA 3,019,569

TOILET FLUSH TANK VALVE SANDER Filed 001:. 51, 1960 INV TOR.

77/07/705 dg y/a.

United States Patent Ofiice 3,@l9,559 Patented Feb. 6, 1962 3,019,559 TOILET FLUSH TANK VALVE SANDER Thomas Mataylra, 6351 N. Merrimac Ave., Chicago, Ill. Filed Oct. 31, 19:51 Ser. No. 66,318 15 Claims. (Cl. 51-437) The present invention relates to toilet flush tank valve sanders, and is particularly concerned with devices for enabling the householder or plumber to eliminate the leakage which mcurs around the ball float of a flush tank valve.

The valve seat of a flush tank valve is shaped to engage the flush tank ball valve and is ordinarily convex in cross section over its entire circumference, which means that the ball valve engages the seat along a circular line of contact because both the ball and the seat are convexly curved in cross section.

This line of contact may be slightly widened if the water pressure on the ball is suificient and the ball is soft enough to become slightly deformed; but in any event, such valve seats become coated with impurities in the water in the form of minerals; and the valve seat also be comes pitted and irregular clue to chemical action, so that even a new valve seat soon begins to leak slightly.

As the normal condition of the flush tank is that it is full of water, if the flush tank ball valve leaks, a great deal of water may be lost without the owner being aware of it, as even a steady dripping of a leaky valve causes the loss of a considerable volume of water because it goes on steadily.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of an improved valve sander for the valves of toilet flush tanks, by means of which anyone, though unskilled in the art, may grind the valve seat surfaces of a flush tank in such manner that leakage is substantially eliminated.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a valve sander which is adapted to have its grinding surface conform to the valve seat at the top, where it engages the flush tank ballval e; and by so doing it is adapted to be used in grinding the valve seats of various types of flush tanks.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a flush tank valve sander which may be manufactured economically, and which is simple in construction, which has a minimum number of parts, and which is adapted to give service for a long period of time by using the replaceable grinding members of sand or emery paper.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved construction for a flush tank valve sander in which the sand or emery paper or cloth is attached at its leading end and mounted on a frusto-conical surface which has an annular cavity near the top into which the sand paper or cloth is pressed, to cause the sanding material to conform to the shape of the ball seat, so that it may be uniformly cleaned and polished and the deposits of mineral and other dirt removed, and the valve surface may be ground to a bright, smooth condition, although it is curved convexly at the top, where it engages the flush tank ball valve.

- Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved mode of mounting sandpaper on a valve sander and of protecting the lower edge of the sandpaper while it is loosely mounted by being attached at its leading end and extending loosely at its trailing end.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which similar characters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view in partial section, showing my flush tank valve sander in the position which it assumes when grinding a valve seat;

FIG. 2is a top plan view of the sander head;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the sander head, taken on the plane of the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of one of the sanding sheets;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to FIG. 3 on a larger scale, showing the sanding head in connection with the valve seat.

Referring to FIG. 1, the flush tank valve seats for which the invention is adapted usually comprise a large brass tube 9, which is secured in the bottom of the flush box, and which has a central aperture 10 formed with the valve seat 12, which is tapered and curved, as indicated at 14. The tube 9 is fixedly secured to an overflow pipe 13, which communicates with the interior of the aperture or bore 10 through an aperture 11 below the valve seat.

The valve seat is shown in FIG. 1 in connection with the grinder or sander, which has a generally frusto-conical body 15 carried by a shaft 16, which is shown broken off to indicate that it may be made of any suitable length.

The shaft 16 comprises a rod formed with a crank 17 and an upper extension 18 having a rotatable knob 19. The shaft is preferably provided with a threaded end portion 20 and with a thrust collar '21, which may be in the form of a washer, welded or otherwise secured to the shaft, and adapted to limit the threading of the shaft into the threaded socket 22 of the body 15. v

in some embodiments of the iuvention the thrust collar 21 may be eliminated; and the lower end of'the threaded bore 22 may be closed, as indicated at 23, to lock the shaft in the body.

' The body 15 may be made of plastic or a metal die casting, having a centrally located metal tubular insert 24 anchored in the body'15 and provided with the threaded bore 22. The body 15, which is generally frusto-conical, preferably has an upper frusto-conical portion 25, a smaller intermediate frusto-conical portion 26, and a lower smaller frusto-conical portion 27.

The frusto'conical portions 25 and 26 are separated by an annular shoulder 28; and the frusto-conical portions 26 and 27 are separated by an annular shoulder 29.

The upper end or face of the body 15 may be plane, as indicated at 30; and the lower end may also be plane, as indicated at 31, these end surfaces 30 and 31 being parallel to the annular shoulders 28 and 29. A plurality of radial slots 32, 33 extend radially inward from the frusto-conical surface 35 toward the axis of the shaft; and these slots are wide enough to receive the sandpaper or emery cloth or other abrasive which is used on the body 15.

Each of the radial slots 32 is intersected by a threaded bore 34, 35 adapted to receive a screw, such as a selftapping screw having relatively coarse threads; and the bores 34, 35 extend axially and are adapted to receive the entire body of the screw.

Each screw 36 has a head 37 which engages the top surface 30; and each screw has a roughly threaded body 38, which fits in the threaded bore 34 or '35.

The body is also formed with a lower cylindrical bore 39, which may be slightly tapered, such as a few thousandths, for frictionally gripping a cylindrical lug 43, which is carried by a plastic cap 41; and the cylindrical lug may also be slightly tapered to fit tightly in the bore 39.

The cap 41 has a fiat circular end 42 and a irustoconical flange 43, which has a slight clearance 44 with respect to the frusto-conical surface 27, so that the sandpaper or emery cloth or other abrasive may be held tightly against the frusto-conical surface by the flange 43.

The cap 41 is made relatively thin, so that it will not make the lower end of the assembly too large to go into the aperture 10. 7 The sandpaper or other flexible abrasive is indicated at 45 in FIG. 4; and this abrasive is cut to fit on a portion of the body 15 when suitably deformed. In the embodiment illustrated two pieces of abrasive are used; but any number of pieces may be employed.

Thus the abrasive 45 is provided with an inner circular edge 46 and an outer circular edge 47, which extend from the bottom 31 to the top 35 of the body when the abrasive is mounted on the body. It is also provided with a radial edge 48, extending to a tab 49, which is sub stantially rectangular; and it is provided with another radial edge 59 spaced from the radial edge 48 sufi'iciently so that the abrasive almost covers half of the frustoconical portions of the body '15.

The tab -49 is bent radially inward along the dotted line 51 so that it is adapted to extend into one of the slots 32, 33, where the tabs are secured by means of the screw body 38, which presses the body of the abrasive tab 49 out of the slot 32 into the threaded bore 34 as the screw progresses; and there is suiiicient clearance between the threads of the body 38 of the screw and the threads 34 to provide space for the tab '49, which is tightly gripped by the screw.

When the abrasive is mounted in this manner upon the body 15, the flexible abrasive initially bridges the angular recess at the annular shoulder 28; but when the body 15 with the abrasive is forced into engagement with the valve seat 12, the outside of the abrasive below the annular shoulder 27 forms a curved concave surface of revolution, indicated at 5-2, which conforms to the shape of the valve seat 12 and grinds the valve seat to a smooth annular surface at its uppermost portion, where the rubber ball makes contact.

The flexibly mounted abrasive -45 is thus adapted to conform to the valve seat surface at the abrasive curved portion 52; and it is thus adapted to grind valve seats having various shapes in cross section.

The body with its abrasive is self-centering and seifaligning when rotated by means of the shaft in; and th abrasive 45 is secured at its leading edge $8 and permitted to trail backward to conform to the shape of the body 15 while its trailing edge is loose, except as confined by the lower cap 41. v

, The cap 41 prevents the lower edge of the abrasive from eing forced upward out of proper position; and the abrasive is thus removably mounted on the body 15 so that it may be renewed whenever necessary.

It will thus beobserved that I have invented a toilet flush tank valve sander which may be used by any householder to grind the valve seat of a flush tank and to eliminate the leakage which is due to the incrustation of the valve seat with hardened chemical constituents in the Water and also to eliminate the pitting of the valve seat by constituents of the water which attack the seat.

The present valve sander is simple in construction and includes a minimum number of parts so that it may be manufactured very economically and placed within the reach of a vast number of purchasers.

The use of the sander is adapted to eliminate the waste of the water which leaks past ill fitting valve seats, and which can only be detected by listening closely with the car adjacent the flush box when the box is full of water.

While I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of all the changes within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

l. A flush tank valve seat sander, comprising a substantially frusto-conical body member having means for attachment to an actuating shaft, and having its upper end of greater diameter than the valve seat of a flush tank, said body having an annular shoulder adjacent said larger end and a frusto-conical portion of smaller diameter at its larger end at said annular shoulder, forming an angular recess adjacent said annular shoulder, and an arcuate strip of flexible sanding material having its trailing end extend ing backwardly in a rotative direction from an attaching portion at its leading end, said arcuate strip conforming and covering the two said frusto-conical portions of said body and having the trailing end of said arcuate strip loose to be drawn into engagement with said frustoconical portions of said body upon rotation of the body in a flush tank valve seat.

2. A flush tank valve seat sander according to claim 1, in which the flexible sanding material bridges the angular annular recess between said frusto-conical portions, and curves under pressure into annular conformity with the valve seat at the upper end of the valve seat.

3. A flush tank valve seat sander according to claim 1, in which the arcuate strip has an attaching flange at its leading end.

4. A flush tank valve seat sander according to claim 3, in which hte attaching flange extends inwardly at an angle into a slot in the body.

5. A flush tank valve seat sander according to claim 4, the said attaching flange being fixedly secured in said slot.

6. A flush tank valve seat sander according to claim 4, in which the slot is intersected by a bore which is threaded to receive a screw engaging and securing the attaching flange.

7. A flush tank valve seat sander according to claim 2, in which the body has a metal insert embedded axially in its upper end and provided with a threaded bore.

8. A flush tank valve seat sander according to claim 7, in which the threaded bore contains the threaded end of a rod, and is provided with means for locking the rod in said bore.

9. A flush tank valve seat sander according to claim 8 in which the rod is formed with a crank and axial extension having a rotatable knob on said extension.

10. A flush tank valve sanding head comprising a molded body having plane end surfaces and having an upper frusto-conical surface, an annular shoulder and a second frusto-conical surface extending downward from said shoulder, said body having a central embedded hub provided with an upper threaded bore for receiving the end of a drive shaft, said body having a pair of radial slots extending inward from said upper frusto-conical surface on a diametrical line, a pair of arcuate flexible pieces of sanding material, each having an attaching tabat one end, and said tabs being secured in said slots with the sanding material trailing backward from each tab relative to the direction of rotation of the head, the sanding material covering substantially all of both frustoconical surfaces and curving concavely at said annular shoulder to conform to the curvature of a flush tank valve seat at its upper end over the full periphery of said head.

11. A flush tank valve sanding head according to claim 10, in which the head has a frusto-conical cap fitting over a lower frusto-conical portion and holding the lower por tions of the sanding material against the head.

12. A flush tank valve sanding head according to claim 6 10, in which the head has alowermost third frusto-conical ing the tab into the latter bore in each case to secure portion, extending from the bottom up to a second anthe tab. nular shoulder. 15. A flush tank valve sanding head according to claim 13. A flush tank valve sanding head according to claim 14, in which the latter bore is threaded complementarily 10, in which the head has a lower central bore and the 5 to a self-tapping screw. cap has a central stub shaft frictionally held in said latter bore References (fitted in the file of this patent 14. A flush tank valve sanding head according to claim UNITED STATES PATENTS 10, in which the radial slots are intersected by a ver- 1953284 Willard A 1m 3: 1934 tical bore in each case, receiving a vertical member forc- 10 

